The horrific world of modern slavery is exposed in this book based on the first-hand experiences of victims of human trafficking.
Through the stories of three remarkable individuals who share how they fell victim to traffickers and how their bodies and souls resisted an enterprise of total destruction, Monique Villa takes us around the world—from Ohio to Tokyo, London to India, Qatar to Colombia—to uncover a parallel world where men, women, and children are dehumanized and reduced to obedient machines.
Written by a global leader in the fight against human trafficking, this powerful book uncovers the hidden world of slaves—no longer physically in chains—who walk among us, trapped in a cycle of exploitation. Despite significant progress in the fight for human rights, slavery continues to flourish. In fact, there are more slaves today, in countries rich and poor, than at any point in the past. By giving voice to survivors of this horrific trade, Villa vividly illustrates dire situations we can do something about. Her call to action outlines concrete steps to safeguard the vulnerable among us and to eliminate slavery in our time.
The author is donating all proceeds from sales of this book to help combat human trafficking.
Monique Villa is former CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation. She is the founder of TrustLaw, Trust Conference, and the Stop Slavery Awards. She is ranked among the worlds 100 most influential people in business ethics by Ethisphere. In 2015, Villa received the Champions for Change Award for her vision and effort in the fight against human trafficking and modern-day slavery. She was also the recipient of ECPAT-USAs inaugural Freedom Award in 2017, recognizing her leadership in the fight to end child trafficking, and was ranked fourth in the UKs 2018 Top 100 Modern Slavery Influencers Index. She lives in London.
Acknowledgments
Preface: Why?
1 Who Are the Modern Slaves?
2 The Most Despicable Crime: Techniques of the Human-Trafficking Business Model
3 From Nepal to Qatar: Debt Bondage
4 A Tattoo on Your Soul: Corruption and Impunity
5 The Psychological Impact of Enslavement
6 The Children of Bal Ashram
7 In the Mind of a Trafficker
8 Limited Options
9 Business Is Key—To the Problem and the Solution
10 Solutions: From Individuals to Cross-Sector Engagement, Worldwide
11 My Heroes
Index
A brief, clear introduction to the tragedy of human trafficking in the 21st century. A 10th-generation Parisian who lives in London, Villa brings a welcome global perspective to her overview of present-day slavery and how readers can fight it. She has served for more than a decade as CEO of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, which promotes human rights, and she draws heavily on that experience as she describes the brutal fates of the estimated 40 million people worldwide who are “forced to work, through fraud or threat of violence, for no pay beyond subsistence.” Roughly 30 percent of the victims are trafficked for sex while 70 percent are trapped in involuntary labor. She includes oral histories of three survivors, two of whom suggest the range of forms modern slavery takes: Deependra Giri, an educated Nepalese man who signed a two-year contract for an office job in Qatar only to have to surrender his passport when he arrived, which meant he couldn’t leave when his employer paid a fraction of the agreed-upon salary; and Marcela Loaiza, a dancer in Colombia lured to Tokyo by a con man who promised to make her famous but whose associates demanded, once she got to Japan, that she pay them $50,000 by working as a prostitute and threatened harm to her family if she didn’t comply. Some of the crimes Villa describes, like sex trafficking, have garnered wide attention, but other shadowy practices are less well known. These include the Kafala, or sponsorship, system in place in the Persian Gulf region, which allows employers to confiscate migrant workers’ passports and deny them exit permits until the company says they can leave. In the most useful parts of the book, Villa instructs readers on what they can do to support anti-slavery efforts, including donating to groups like the Human Trafficking Legal Center, which provides free lawyers for victims. Villa’s use of real names and photos of survivors lends credibility to stories that might otherwise be too shocking to believe.
A vital guide for teachers, nonprofits, and others seeking to understand the global fight against slavery.
— Kirkus Reviews
Villa, founder of the global anti slavery organization Trust Conference, makes it clear that slavery exists not only in West Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Southeast Asia, but also in the United States. Enslavement takes many forms: sex trafficking, debt peonage, forced domestic labor, and child labor, and all involve deception, exploitation, and threats of violence. Villa use the experiences of several survivors to explain how slavery can hide in plain sight: an American woman forced into prostitution by her boyfriend; a Colombian woman tricked into working as an escort in Japan; and a well-educated, multilingual Nepalese accountant lured into an abusive work environment in Qatar. . . . a powerful, eye-opening look at human exploitation and our complicity as consumers.
— Booklist
Woven through the book are the first-person accounts of three people who were enslaved . . . Their words are harrowing, in places almost unbearable to read. But there is hope too – in the courage shown by survivors, and in the chapter on solutions, showing what we can all do to fight back. Perhaps surprisingly, this book is an accessible page-turner as well as being a shocking eye-opener.
— Irish News
There are more slaves today in both the developed and less developed worlds than at any other moment in history. On any given day one might encounter someone who is enslaved, and everyone has almost certainly consumed the results of their labor. . . Villa, an investigative journalist and leader of the anti-slavery movement, uses the experiences of three individuals who escaped to illustrate the networks that target, groom, capture, train, traffic, sell, and abuse people, as well as the networks of law and corruption that enable this business to be so immensely profitable. . . Villa identifies practical actions that unaffected individuals can take to rescue people who are trapped and reduce the profitability that encourages their enslavement. This is a must-read for all audiences. . . Highly recommended. All levels.
— Choice Reviews
Woven through the book are the first-person accounts of three people who were enslaved . . .Their words are harrowing, in places almost unbearable to read. But there is hope too -- in the courage shown by survivors, and in the chapter on solutions, showing what we can all do to fight back. Perhaps surprisingly, this book is an accessible page-turner as well as being a shocking eye-opener.
— Irish Times
In this well-argued, moving, and passionate book, Monique Villa lays out the appalling nature and scale of slavery today. By giving voice to the slaves themselves, showing both their sufferings and their extraordinary humanity and resilience, she underscores her call to action for us all to end this modern scourge.
— Margaret MacMillan, historian
As a survivor myself, I know firsthand how Monique’s fierce and relentless drive in fighting modern slavery and empowering those who have endured it has been transformative. Her knowledge and expertise, strengthened over many years of being at the frontline of this fight, is stamped on every page of this book, a real page turner.
— Evelyn Chumbow, survivor of forced labor
I discovered sex trafficking through filming SOLD, and Monique Villa’s book is an eye-opener on the human experience of slavery. She keeps the survivors’ voices and weaves them with a global insight into modern slavery. I don’t usually feel hopeful when I read about the issue, but this book had that effect on me. A tour de force.
— Gillian Anderson, award-winning actress
Monique Villa’s years of experience as an esteemed journalist, along with her tenacity and passion to protect those who suffer in modern slavery, are clearly demonstrated in this book. She has led the way in the fight against slavery, bringing so many along with her.
— Kevin Hyland, former UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner
